Before I began life this time
I took a crash course in Counter-Intelligence
Once here I signed in, see name below, and added
Some words remembered from an earlier time,
“The intention of the organism is to survive.”
My earliest, & happiest, memories pre-date WWII,
They involve a glass slipper & a helpless blue rose
In a slender blue single-rose vase: Mine
Was a story without a plot. The days of my years
Folded into one another, an easy fit, in which
I made money & spent it, learned to dance & forgot, gave
Blood, regained my poise, & verbalized myself a place
In Society. 101 St. Mark’s Place, apt. 12A, NYC 10009
New York. Friends appeared & disappeared, or wigged out,
Or stayed; inspiring strangers sadly died; everyone
I ever knew aged tremendously, except me. I remained
Somewhere between 2 and 9 years old. But frequent
Reification of my own experiences delivered to me
Several new vocabularies, I loved that almost most of all.
I once had the honor of meeting Beckett & I dug him.
The pills kept me going, until now. Love, & work,
Were my great happinesses, that other people die the source
Of my great, terrible, & inarticulate one grief. In my time
I grew tall & huge of frame, obviously possessed
Of a disconnected head, I had a perfect heart. The end
Came quickly & completely without pain, one quiet night as I
Was sitting, writing, next to you in bed, words chosen randomly
From a tired brain, it, like them, suitable, & fitting.
Let none regret my end who called me friend.

“If you would know how a man treats his wife and his children, see how he treats his books.”

 

 Vol. 005: Sleeping in the Midday Sun: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

1. Stephanie Says - The Velvet Underground
2. Cousin Jane - The Troggs
3. Thirteen - Big Star
4. Lady Came From Baltimore - Tim Hardin
5. Beat the Retreat (live) - Richard Thompson
6. Buffalo Ballet - John Cale
7. You Are Not Needed Now - Townes Van Zandt
8. Whiskey in the Jar - Thin Lizzy
9. The Old Man’s Back Again - Scott Walker
10. Hey Joe - The Music Machine
11. Superlungs My Supergirl - Terry Reid
12. Mr. Guy Fawkes Day - Eire Apparent
13. Like Flies on Sherbert - Alex Chilton
14. Come Crash - A.C. Newman
15. You and Your Sister - Chris Bell

I’m not sure whether this photo is from the Ron Mueck exhibition that was at Brooklyn Museum last year, but I like how the corporeal museumgoers mesh with Mueck’s life-like sculptures.